


You light me up (like sunshine)

by madamteatime



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2014-06-13
Packaged: 2018-02-04 12:30:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1779184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamteatime/pseuds/madamteatime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>What a beautiful thing it is,</i> the old man thinks. <i>To be young and in love.</i> [<a href="http://madamteatime.tumblr.com/post/88558540441">x</a>]</p>
            </blockquote>





	You light me up (like sunshine)

Old man Youngsu knows his new neighbour is a celebrity the moment he hears the movers pull up early in the morning. 

It’s a noisy, chaotic sort of move into the luxury condo beside his, newly built and empty until now. He hears a voice directing where everything should go, and then the sound of other voices – friends? – exclaiming over the place.

There’s a thud, as though someone slipped and fell, which is followed by loud, embarrassed laughter.

Youngsu shakes his head and goes to water his plants, resigning himself to a somewhat noisier neighborhood than he’s grown used to.

\- - -

The old man realises he’s hit the celebrity jackpot when his new neighbour comes knocking on his door the next day to apologise for all the noise he made while moving in. He introduces himself as Jung Yunho and holds up a strawberry cake as peace offering.

Disarmed, Youngsu invites him in for tea. Yunho seems delighted, exclaiming over the flowerpots in his windows and the Chinese rugs on his living room floor. He’s boisterous and cheerful, an almost glowing presence in the old man’s quiet and painstakingly neat home. Yunho offers to cut him a slice of cake, until Youngsu gently explains that he’s diabetic. 

Yunho looks disappointed but Youngsu indicates that he should help himself, and he cheers up as he devours a large slice of the cake.

“I shouldn’t,” Yunho laughs guiltily. “But strawberries are my favorite.”

He asks interested questions about Youngsu’s life and the old man answers in between brewing tea, bewildered but happy at the attention. He has no family, he tells Yunho, his wife and son having passed away many years ago. He was an engineer, and when he was young he had bought some shares in an up-and-coming tech firm on a whim; a small company by the name of Samsung. It had granted him a very comfortable retirement, which was how he was able to afford such a nice place now. 

Yunho seems both impressed by his acumen and concerned at his lack of family.

“There’s really no-one to care for you?” he asks, then jumps as a white cat appears from around the couch and rubs against his leg.

Youngsu smiles. “I have Mimi,” he says, indicating the cat.

Yunho’s face lights up. “Mimi!” he exclaims. He picks the cat up and rubs his nose against hers. “What a cute name.” 

Youngsu thinks his new neighbour does justice to the title of celebrity.

\- - -

A few nights later there’s a girl on Yunho’s doorstep, crying and ranting about his refusal to see her, _I’ll do anything oppa, oppa why didn’t you tell me you moved I had to find out from so-and-so, I’ll do anything oppa please I’ll get a sex change I know you like that oppa_ – her tone steadily becoming more threatening – _I know oppa, I’ll tell everyone, I know about you and –_

Yunho opens his door and quietly tells her to leave right now, or he will call the police and have them remove her. 

The girl leaves, and Youngsu spends a while finishing his tea before going around to knock on Yunho’s door.

Yunho looks exasperated when he opens it, but his expression clears when he sees who it is.

“Youngsu-nim,” he sighs, relieved.

“May I borrow some milk, Yunho-yah? I’m afraid I’ve run out,” Youngsu says cheerfully.

It’s such an odd, old-fashioned sort of request that Yunho pauses, then bursts out laughing. He invites the old man in and gives him a whole bottle of milk, then sits him down at the kitchen counter and offers him tea.

Youngsu has never turned down an offer for tea in his entire life. He listens to Yunho chatter as he potters around the kitchen, glad to see that the disturbance earlier hasn’t affected him.

Yunho, to his credit, is sharper than he looks. 

“You heard the girl earlier I’m sure,” he says.

Youngsu sips his tea. “The life of an idol has difficulties we never see on TV.”

Yunho leans his forearms on the kitchen counter and regards him thoughtfully. “You never ask me much. About being a celebrity.”

“Your stage name is Uknow Yunho and you are a member of DongBangShinKi,” Youngsu recites what Yunho had told him. He smiles. “I’m sure Uknow Yunho is a wonderful person. But I am happy just knowing Jung Yunho, a remarkable yet ordinary young man.”

Yunho lets out a breath and looks down, a smile dimpling his cheeks.

\- - -

One morning Mimi the cat goes missing. 

The old man searches everywhere for her, calling her softly from every room in his house. Worried, he goes out onto his balcony and glances around, also checking his neighbours’ just in case. 

A young man is lounging on the swing in Yunho’s balcony, a young man with long legs and the handsome features of a celebrity, much like Yunho’s own. He’s reading a book and absently patting the purring furball curled up in the sun beside him.

“Mimi!” Youngsu calls.

Both cat and man look up. Youngsu knows Yunho isn’t home and, recalling the stalker from the other night, narrows his eyes.

“Who are you? Why are you in Yunho’s house while he is gone?” 

The young man blinks and sits up, looking nonplussed. “Well – I do have keys,” he says.

Youngsu misunderstands and flares up. “Yah, you think it’s funny to steal and break into people’s houses? You and your friends just leave him alone, he’s a good boy who doesn’t need you sniffing around – ”

“Changminnie?” Yunho steps onto the balcony. “Are you getting told off by Youngsu-nim?”

The young man gets to his feet, looking highly affronted. “He thinks I’m an intruder!”

Yunho laughs, loud and amused. “Ah, he takes such good care of me.” He grabs his hand. “Youngsu-nim, this is Changmin. He’s my – ” Yunho pauses, as though unsure of what title to give him.

Youngsu glances at their joined hands and immediately thinks of a few.

“Bandmate,” Changmin blurts out. He slips his hand out of Yunho’s. “We’re in DongBangShinKi together.”

Youngsu bows to him, a perfect 90 degrees in his embarrassment. “I apologise. I mistook you for a stalker.”

Having an older gentleman bow to him seems to shock Changmin out of his funk. He bows back quickly. “No, no, it’s okay! It was an honest mistake.”

Yunho waves off the ensuing round of apologies with a laugh and bids Youngsu good day, dragging Changmin back into the house.

“Really Changmin? Bandmate?” Youngsu hears him say.

“Shut up, the old man was looking at us weird.”

“Youngsu-sshi wouldn’t care. He’s pretty chill.” 

A shadow moves across the wall, as if one of them stepped closer.

“You are too quick to trust,” Changmin says softly.

“And you don’t trust at all,” Yunho counters.

Silence, and then a soft, slick sound that is unmistakable in nature.

Heat steams the balcony tiles. The cat yawns.

Youngsu retreats inside and know he shouldn’t listen.

\- - -

Changmin quickly becomes a permanent fixture of Yunho’s house, and Youngsu wonders how he never noticed him before. 

He’s there when Yunho leaves for work in the morning and there when they trudge home late at night, exhausted and sweaty. Sometimes Changmin leaves for a few days, or they both disappear for months on end, no doubt to conquer some distant foreign landscape, but always he comes back to Yunho’s doorstep, laden with groceries and humming some soft tune under his breath. 

Changmin cooks surprisingly well and sings like an angel, both things Youngsu discovers when they invite him over for dinner one night. Yunho had somehow remembered his birthday, despite Youngsu only having mentioned it once, and briefly, in passing. Yunho confesses that he’d wanted to bake him a cake as a present but Changmin had told him it was cruel to torture his elderly neighbours. Youngsu laughs, and doesn’t miss the way Yunho pouts and pinches Changmin’s side petulantly.

Instead he makes one simple request as his present – he would like to hear them sing. They ask him to choose a song and Youngsu picks a love ballad from his youth, popular enough that they would know it too.

The old man listens to them sing and feels tears stand in his eyes, stunned at the perfect harmony their voices make, breathing life and feeling into an old classic. Halfway through they turn, natural and easy, to face each other, and a smile touches the corner of Changmin’s mouth as their eyes meet. 

It’s a pure, crystal clear moment of joy, unfettered by constraints of time and context.

_What a beautiful thing it is,_ the old man thinks. _To be young and in love._

\- - -

One night the kids have a fight.

Youngsu can hear them shouting at each other, though not the words. Something smashes against the wall, as though someone had thrown a breakable object. He hears Yunho’s voice raised in anger, hears Changmin yelling back at him.

A door slams, and then silence. 

The old man strokes his cat and puts another blanket over his feet, staring sadly into his fireplace for a long time afterwards.

\- - -

He shouldn’t intrude. It’s absolutely none of his business, he shouldn’t intrude, he shouldn’t go over to check on them, he _really_ shouldn’t knock on their door – 

Youngsu sighs and shifts as he waits on the doorstep. Ah, him.

Changmin opens the door looking disheveled and only half awake. He’s wearing an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants, items of clothing Youngsu is positive he’s seen Yunho wear frequently. He invites the old man in without question and leads the way to the kitchen.

“Hyung went to the gym,” Changmin mumbles, shuffling over to the coffee machine.

Youngsu nods and accepts the mug of tea Changmin places in front of him with a smile of thanks. Comfortable silence descends, the quiet after a storm. 

“I had a male lover once,” Youngsu says carefully.

Changmin almost spits out his coffee. Youngsu waits for his coughing to subside before giving him an amused look.

“It was during my military service – well, that sort of thing wasn’t unheard of. All men and we wouldn’t see a woman for months on end. If this and that happened nobody made a fuss about it.”

Changmin is staring at him with round, wide eyes. _Like a deer,_ Youngsu thinks briefly before continuing.

“Jinho was different though. He wasn’t just a dalliance – it was love, I was convinced. We would stay together even afterwards, we would honour our promises to each other and nobody else.” The old man’s eyes shutter. “Of course, young love rarely conquers in the end. Our service ended, and we went back to the real world. I married. He married. And I was too cowardly, too scared to even call him and ask what happened.” 

He gives Changmin a kind look. “You and Yunho do not strike me as cowardly men. There is bravery in making a choice many would shy away from. It takes courage to love someone with everything you’ve got.”

Changmin swallows and looks down. “I – I yelled at him last night. I said things. . .I’m not proud of. It was so stupid. . .”

Youngsu laughs and pats his hand. “If he loves you he will forgive you.”

\- - -

After he leaves Changmin spends a while thinking about the old man’s story. 

Then he swallows his pride, gets up and gathers the ingredients for lunch.

Yunho gets home and follows his nose to the kitchen. He drops his gym bag and gazes at Changmin, sitting at the counter rumpled and dappled in sunlight.

Changmin twists a self-conscious hand in his (Yunho’s) shirt and meets his eye. His hair is a mess and he hasn’t showered, and Yunho is standing there looking at him like he’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. His breath hitches.

“Hyung – ” he starts.

“Did you cook for me?” Yunho asks softly.

“Y-yeah,” Changmin says. “Peace offering?”

Yunho goes to him and cups his cheeks, tilting his face up. “Since when did you give in so easily?” he asks with a smile.

Changmin thinks back to Youngsu’s story of lost love, of being too afraid to take a chance on someone. He wraps his arms around Yunho’s middle and buries his face in his chest.

“I can’t live without you hyung,” he mumbles.

Their shadows shift and melt into one, and Yunho lowers his head and kisses Changmin in the warm afternoon light.

Next door, the old man smiles and settles into his favorite rocking chair.


End file.
